Those Who Acted Up, Went Down

The subject was the home run celebration--the forearm bash, high fives, low fives, that sort of thing--and how it has gotten out of hand. Why, in the old days . . .

“I think 25 years ago, you’d be asking to get creased if you did that,” Seattle Mariners coach Frank Howard said of the current theatrics, curtain calls included. As a player--he had a stint with the Dodgers--Howard hit 382 homers.

Hank Aaron, another home run hitter of note, said: “Sam Jones, he’d knock you down for a week if you did something like that. He’d probably run over you with a car. Back in those days, there were some mean pitchers. Stan Williams? He’d dig you a hole.”

Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean made it clear to hitters that he wouldn’t be shown up.

“Dig it deep,” Dean supposedly yelled from the mound as a hitter dug in at the plate. “Because that’s where they’ll bury you.”

Add Showboating: “I think they should make a videotape of Dale Murphy’s trot and show it to everyone who wants to hit a home run,” New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling told Marty Noble of Newsday. “He runs the bases with his head down, like he’s almost upset that he took you deep. And he shakes hands normally.”

Trivia Time: Of the franchises remaining in the National Basketball Assn. playoffs, only three have ever won a championship. The Minneapolis-Los Angeles Lakers have won 10, and Boston has won 16. What is the third franchise? (Answer below.)

For What It’s Worth: When a baseball game to benefit cancer research was played Thursday at Fenway Park in Boston, one of the billboard advertisements above the bleachers in right-center field was not covered.

It was an ad for a cigarette company.

Would You Believe It? Richard Petty, who has become a legend on the stock car racing circuit with his famous red and Petty blue No. 43, said he doesn’t consider those colors his trademark.

“Solid black,” Petty told Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post. “Black on black. No chrome. Black-tinted windows. When you see it coming, you know it’s me. All that black’s kind of like my signature.”

Add Petty: His personal car is a Trans-Am with a Corvette engine, and he says he has always tried to buy American. Once, though, he drove a $185,000 Rolls-Royce convertible to a track in Virginia.

“She rode like a truck: real slow, no power,” he said. “I made two laps so all the boys in the pits could see me.”

Trivia Answer: Atlanta. As the St. Louis Hawks, they beat the Celtics in 1957-58.

Quotebook

President Harry Glickman of the Portland Trail Blazers, on 7-foot 2-inch center Soviet center Arvidas Sabonis: “He is a big man, physically. I would liken him physically to Petur Gudmundsson. In size--not ability.”